Tan Renga - Jen from Blog it or Lose it - December 29, 2014

Walnut Canyon Overlook. National Park Service.

ancient laughter

captured in a canyon wind – 

yucca leaves, rustling  

(© Paloma)

high cave-side dwellings
observe the canyon stream

jugs on their heads
women tote water daily
up steep narrow paths

(© G.s.k. '14)

Talking to Paloma about her trip, which inspired the haiku we're using to day for Carpe Diem Tan Renga (Jen (or Paloma) of Blog It Or Lose It)... the vision of women toting water up steep paths stuck in my mind.  We are very lucky in most of the Western World, but the reality of the majority of women in the world is toting water ... from Africa to Asia, from South America to the Middle East ... women tote water daily on their heads usually in heavy clay jars.

The Night -"Haiku-Noir" - December 3, 2014

Haiku

rain in the darkness
city lights shimmer like ghosts -
a lonely dog howls

trying to sleep
midnight traffic rumbles
belching exhaust fumes

American Sentences

walking the streets at midnight without a goal only fog as my wrap.

tick ticking at dawn, cold rain falling as the old lady goes walking.

unholy screams rend the fabric of night - two alley cats fighting.

(c) G.s.k. '14

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This week's Ghost Writer is Jen from Blog it or Lose it ... and she'd got us reflecting upon the film genre "noir" ... and the darker side of nature:

Even if you’re not familiar with the term “film noir” you’ll know film noir when you see it.  Think of a 1940s black-and-white detective movie.  Here are some common film noir scenes:

·         Driving at night … in the rain;

·         Dark, shadowy, smoky rooms with venetian blind shadows;

·         People in trench coats standing alone in the fog … or on a pier … or in an alley … or a street corner … or in some sort of awkward, lonely, vulnerable position.

Here are an example of her great ability:

A haiku:

a dim street lamp

in a pale orange fog – 

almost bleeding 

 And a tanka:

the city is curled

around a tossed cigarette 

hissing in slush

and even the lamp light

recoils from its strike

(c)  Jen R. 

Linked to Carpe Diem Haiku Kai .. where you can read the full post ... 

A Dream in A Dream - Tan Renga - November 28, 2014

This week for  the Tan Renga Challenge I'm honored  that Chèvrefeuille chose one of the haiku I wrote for Carpe Diem's Ghost Writer:  A Dream Within A Dream where we were to distill a great poem by Edgar Allen Poe written by Jen from Blog it or Lose it.   I originally  published the haiku on my WordPress Blog with the collage that you see at the top of the page.

a dream in a dream
sand slipping through old fingers
autumn leaves turn red

© Georgia

wondering where the time's gone
she walks alone in the park

sunshine streaks the trees
first snow flakes begin to fall -
early afternoon

© Georgia

Ghost Writer - Jen: The Cold Within The Sound - November 26, 2014

Photo © Jen R.

sudden blizzard
freezing the last persimmons
a crash of thunder
shakes the frozen windows -
cold sounds of winter

(c) G.s.k. '14

Jen's (from Blog it or Lose It!)  Ghost Writing post begins like this:

"One evening – when the muses were being particularly stingy with their inspiration – I started to look for new voices in haiku.  I stumbled across a great site full haiku and tanka written by Japanese women – and fell in love with the poetry of Otagaki Rengetsu (1791-1895).

looking out over the bay  

I see clouds of cold rain  

summoning winter  

and hear the wind in the pines  

whisper its name  

© Otagaki Rengetsu

This is a lovely post and a great introduction to a new haiku poet ...  a woman too!  It's an interesting post and I would invite you to drop by and have a look!  Here is the poem used as the point of inspiration for today's haiku:

Upon

frost-withered arrowroot

pelting

vying hailstones—

the cold within the sound.

 (c) Rengetsu

On Autumn - Ghost Writer - November 13, 2014

Ghost Writer Prompt 2 - Writing with Wright - On Autumn 

an upside down world
 arrows point to nowhere
in wet city streets

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[Chiuso per Feria
Riapro in Aprile
l'inverno ad Arco]

Closed for the season
Reopening in April
Winter in Arco

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Graffiti on the walls reminds the world that elections are over ...

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park bench and trash bin
cars streak by in the wet streets

drab cold autumn day

©  G.s.k. '14

 Linked to Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

Writing With Richard Wright - Ghost Writer Jen - November 13, 2014

In this post, I'm going to find inspiration to write a haiku with Richard Wright (1908-1960), guided by Jen of Blog It Or Lose It!.  We'd visited Richard Wright a while back with the Carpe Diem Haiku Kai - Little Creatures challenge, but it was nice to revisit this poet and read some of his other haiku.  Go HERE for the full post. The theme is “autumn” and/or “departure”:

cold autumn dawn

lit window among the trees

- more drizzling rain

black cat in the leaves

shakes its wet paw in disgust

- leaving for work

country living
seasonal brands for each day
 - persimmons rotting

©  G.s.k. '14

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And here are some examples of Richard Wright's haiku:

The chill autumn dusk

Grows colder as yellow lights

Come on in skyscrapers.

© Richard Wright

Autumn moonlight is

Deepening the emptiness

Of a country road.

© Richard Wright

As the popcorn man

Is closing up his wagon,

Snow begins to fall.

© Richard Wright

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And our hostess' haiku:

The first autumn snow

gleams blue on the parking lot

under the moonlight.

Next to the gutter

the raked-up pile of leaves

huddles under snow.

© Paloma

"A Dream Within A Dream" - Writing with Jen - November 5, 2014

an autumnal walk
reflecting on springs gone by
- blackbirds always sing

don't reflect on tomorrows
life's an ephemeral dream

life is illusion
as the noble Buddha says -
t'is a dream we dream

illusions in illusions
tomorrows in yesterdays

sand in an hour glass
each grain a second of life
- slipping quickly by

(c) G.s.k. '14

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Today's Ghost Writer at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is Jen from Blog it or Lose It!
Jen gives us a brief introduction to one of my favorite writers Edgar Allen Poe ... here is the poem which she put on her post for today's challenge and inspiration:

            A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM.

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow—

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand—

How few! yet how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep—while I weep!

O God! can I not grasp

Them with a tighter clasp?

O God! can I not save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that we see or seem

But a dream within a dream?

 

Linked to Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

Dawn - November 3, 2014

Lago di Garda - Lake Garda - Italy

fishermen
in the dawning new day
bathed in pink

in the valley

the sun dawns slowly

- silence

on the horizon
first rays of the morning sun -
dawns on  lake Garda

(C) G.s.k. '14

Linked to Haiku Horizon - Dawn with a special thanks to Jen from Blog it or Lose it!

Ghost Writer - Jen from Blog it or Lose it - October 15, 2014

I loved reading our Ghost Writer (Jen of Blog It Or Lose It ) today.  She shed light on a subject which is near to us all, popular culture ... that is movies, tv series and perhaps video games and popular music ... there's a lot more behind the subject than most of us probably would have thought about without this reflection by Jen and I really appreciated reading her point of view and decided to find inspiration for the following haiku from a few of my favorite "distractions".

By the way, the post makes reference to how, in the past even the great haiku poet Basho used popular culture sometime to write haiku ... curious?  Follow this link to Carpe Diem Haiku Kai!

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There is so much to choose from ... to tell the truth I don't watch many TV series ... though I have my favorites - Star Trek (all of them), The Big Bang Theory, Doctor Who and I loved Firefly ... but I watch oodles of movies, though few more than once.  The one's I used to inspire me are two of my "Linus Blanket" films.  I have to admit ... I think i could have written at least a dozen more haiku!

tears flow freely
watching the evening news
- with Sheldon

(c) G.s.k. '14

Quote from the episode The Gorilla Experiment

Sheldon: Why are you crying?
Penny: Because I'm stupid.
Sheldon: That's no reason to cry. One cries because one is sad. For example, I cry because others are stupid, and that makes me sad.

"The Wonderful Word of Amelie"

 

sweet innocence
- world of imagination
woven into life
inspiring love and beauty
walking with Amélie

(c) G.s.k. '14

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"Wings of Desire"

armor tattered
outside bright reality
an angel falls

(c) G.s.k. '14

Ghost Writer - Writing with Jen - September 23, 2014

Jen of Blog It Or Lose It  is today's Ghost Writer at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai ... and she's introduced us to an American  poet Sara Teasdale:

" ...[she] lived from 1884-1933.  She published several collections of poetry during her life, including Sonnets to Duse, Helen of Troy and Other Poems, Rivers to the Sea, Flame and Shadows, and Love Songs.  She is probably best known for three poems:  “Like Barley Bending”, “I Shall Not Care”, and “Leaves”."

Here is the poem she's given us to reflect upon and give our impression in haiku form:

"Leaves" (1917)

ONE by one, like leaves from a tree,
All my faiths have forsaken me;
But the stars above my head
Burn in white and delicate red,
And beneath my feet the earth
Brings the sturdy grass to birth.
I who was content to be
But a silken-singing tree,
But a rustle of delight
In the wistful heart of night,
I have lost the leaves that knew
Touch of rain and weight of dew.
Blinded by a leafy crown
I looked neither up nor down -
But the little leaves that die
Have left me room to see the sky;
Now for the first time I know
Stars above and earth below. 

©  Sara Teasdale

Jen goes on to write this:

Rather than elaborate upon the poem, I’d like to know what the poem means to *you*. 

Can you envision the stars, the brown grass at the trees' feet, the liberation of being "leafless"?  What thoughts come to mind when *you* read the poem?

 

this autumn night
under star light standing nude
ecstasy

©  G.s.k. '14

Ghost Writer - Odilon by Jen - August 20, 2014

Yesterday's Ghost writer,  Jen of Blog It Or Lose It on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai wrote a wonderful introduction to a paiter I'd never encountered . Odilon Redon (1840- 1916).

" He was a French symbolist painter and draughtsman who said of his own work, “My drawings inspire, and are not to be defined. They place us, as does music, in the ambiguous realm of the undetermined.” As such, I don’t think he’ll mind if we use his artwork to generate haiku-moments and impressions.

Take a moment, then, and crawl inside this painting (Flower Clouds, 1903). 

Odilon Flower Clouds 

 This particular painting really speaks to me - infact a haiku immediately came to mind upon reading Jen's article which I put into the comments: 

  

sailing through darkness
a sudden outburst of light
enlightenment

Butterflys - Museum of Modern Art , New York U.S.A.

 imagination
in a bright mystic garden
butterflies and blooms

the artist's mind
opened by brush or paper
subconcious voyage

sailing in the bay
two lovers dream of heaven
salted tears unknown

perfume of jasmine
dusty earth in the first rain
butterflies play

salt on my  lips
sails clap loudly in the wind
fireworks in August

Here Jen confides a little secret and she's oh so right:

"Sometimes when I am feeling low on inspiration, I look to the art world for help.  It’s fun – and challenging –to unleash the muses and let them crawl around inside a particular painting.  Together we examine a piece of artwork with all of our senses and then wait for that poetic “flash of lightning” to strike.   And it usually does strike because we’re forced to look at something in a totally different manner."